The US president accused the bloc of unfair trade practices, including barriers to American car exports and shifting pharmaceutical costs
US President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of the European Union, labeling it “nastier than China” regarding trade practices.
In early April, Washington imposed a sweeping 20% tariff on all EU goods and a 25% tariff on all car imports and metals. While Trump later announced a 90-day reprieve on most trade duties, a baseline 10% tariff and the above-mentioned 25% tariff remain in force until an agreement is reached.
“The European Union is in many ways nastier than China,” Trump stated during a press conference at the White House on Monday.
“They treated us very unfairly. They sell us 13 million cars; we sell them none. They sell us their agricultural products; we sell them virtually none,” the president claimed, adding that Brussels has been “suing all our companies… Apple, Google, Meta.”
The American leader predicted that the EU would “come down a lot,” since the US holds “all the cards.”
Trump further stated that the bloc is also to blame, at least in part, for the excessively high prices that Americans have to pay for prescription drugs. According to the president, Brussels has been unfairly exerting “brutal” pressure on pharmaceutical companies to keep prices low in Europe, while refusing to shoulder the fair share of the firms’ research and development and other related costs.
However, Washington is now set to “equalize” the situation, Trump promised, concluding that “Europe is gonna have to pay a little bit more…. And America is gonna pay a lot less.”
Trump’s remarks came hours after Washington and Beijing agreed during negotiations in Geneva to scrap or suspend most of the new trade duties introduced since early April, pending further talks.
As a result, overall US tariffs on Chinese goods will stand at 30% and Chinese tariffs on US goods will be 10%, starting May 14. The two nations will also set up a consultation mechanism to work out further trade policy steps.
The EU, for its part, has made several attempts at negotiating trade and tariffs with the US, though none of them have so far yielded a breakthrough.
Last Thursday, the European Commission presented a list of countermeasures which could affect €95 billion worth of US goods should negotiations fail.
Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro warned Brussels that it would be “making a grave mistake” if it went through with the threat, which he described as counterproductive to the talks.
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